Topline
A 35-year sentence was handed down this week to a Black teenager who was convicted of fatally stabbing a white 17-year-old in a case that has sparked a racial reckoning in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, and criticism from well-known figures like rapper Cardi B and Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, who claimed race “absolutely” played a role in the verdict.
Supporters of Austin Metcalf and Karmelo Anthony clash outside of the Collin County Courthouse on Tuesday, June 9, 2026.
The Dallas Morning News via Getty Images
Key Facts
Karmelo Anthony, now 19, was found guilty of murder Tuesday by a jury and sentenced to decades in prison after he fatally stabbed Austin Metcalf at a track meet when both were 17 years old.
Anthony’s legal team argued he’d acted in self-defense after he was physically confronted by a larger member of the opposing track team during the meet, but prosecutors argued Anthony intentionally escalated an otherwise mild situation by stabbing Metcalf in the chest with a folding knife (Metcalf died shortly after).
Despite the prosecution claiming in opening statements the case “has nothing to do with race”—and Metcalf’s father disavowing those who focused on race as a contributing factor—it quickly became a flashpoint in online political discussions.
Supporters of Metcalf and Anthony clashed outside the Collin County Courthouse Tuesday with at least one woman holding a sign that said “Austin: Say His Name,” repurposing a prominent Black Lives Matter movement slogan.
Commenters debated if Anthony’s actions could reasonably be considered self-defense, others claimed the case would have been different if the races were reversed, and people on both sides expressed unease over a teenager being handed a 35-year sentence (Anthony was tried as an adult under Texas law).
The case generated a massive amount of false information online—including fake autopsy reports and a fake social-media account impersonating the Frisco police chief—and an online legal-defense fundraiser raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in what critics argued was a “reward” for someone accused of murder.
Several prominent figures weighed in as the case played out: Right-wing provocateur Jake Lang stood outside the courthouse and shouted that Anthony should be “lynched,” sports columnist Jason Whitlock called the violence “senseless” and said Anthony “should’ve pleaded insanity” as the only “real explanation for his behavior,” and Dallas-based civil rights activist Dominique Alexander said the verdict showed “Black lives do not matter in Collin County.”
how have people responded to the karmelo anthony conviction?
Crockett, whose district includes parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex but not Frisco, told TMZ she thinks the outcome of the trial would have been different if the races were reversed: “I don’t even know if (Anthony) would have been convicted, because if a white boy would have said that they were afraid of a Black boy, something tells me that that jury that didn’t have any Black people on it, they would have believed him and his fear,” she said. The Collin County Young Democrats group supported Anthony and wrote in a Facebook post that “Justice must be more than punishment.” The Collin County NAACP posted on Facebook questioning “fairness, representation, and confidence in our justice system,” and questioned why there were no Black people on the jury. Anthony’s grandmother, Toni Hayes, was filmed shouting “Racist! Bias!” out of her car window as she left the courthouse Tuesday.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“Wow! Just freakin wow! DISGUSTING… This is not justice, this is trying to make an example!!!” Cardi B posted about the sentencing.
Contra
Jeff Metcalf, the victim’s father, said he thinks Anthony should have been sentenced to life in prison. He said he had “a little bit of sorrow” for Anthony but vowed he will advocate against parole for the rest of his life and will record a video to play at parole hearings after he dies. State Rep. Jared Patterson, D-Frisco, said he hopes “this moment allows the Metcalf family and our community to begin the difficult process of healing and moving forward together.” A local city councilor, Burt Thakur, said, “justice was served.”
Why is the case being compared to Kyle Rittenhouse?
The case immediately evoked memories of the high-profile trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, a white man who shot three people—and killed two—in Wisconsin while illegally armed with an AR-15-style rifle during a Black Lives Matter protest. Rittenhouse was also 17 at the time, and claimed self defense in a case with strong racial and political overtones that also spurred large, controversial online fundraising campaigns. He was charged with multiple counts, including homicide, but was acquitted after a jury found he acted in self-defense. Supporters of Anthony have argued Rittenhouse was given the benefit of the doubt while Anthony was not for racial reasons, pointing out Rittenhouse was immediately supported by the conservative base while Anthony was widely condemned before trial. “White folks out here asking why Karmelo Anthony had a knife but had no problem with 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse having an AR 15 that he wasn’t licensed to carry,” Talbert Swan, a bishop and NAACP chapter president in Massachusetts, said. Critics say the two cases are fundamentally different, and that the legal facts are not as similar as the political narrative suggests. Rittenhouse slammed the comparison by saying, “I defended myself after I was violently attacked by white antifa thugs with criminal records—and it was clear I’d die if I didn’t defend myself. We are not the same.”
Key background
Anthony and Metcalf had never met before a Frisco school district track meet in April 2025. When it started raining, some athletes stayed on the field and others ran for cover under team tents, reports detail. Anthony’s school, Centennial High School, did not have a team tent and he instead sought shelter under the Memorial High tent, where Metcalf was a student. Witnesses told police Metcalf told Anthony to leave, to which Anthony responded, “Touch me and see what happens,” and then Metcalf grabbed Anthony to remove him from the tent. That’s when the witness said Anthony pulled out a knife, stabbed Metcalf once, then ran away. Anthony immediately told police he was the one who stabbed Melcalf, that he was “protecting himself” and asked if Metcalf was “going to be OK,” according to police reports.
TANGENT
The case deepened existing racial divides in Frisco, one of the fastest growing cities in the country that has for years struggled with changing demographics and anti-immigrant sentiment. The city, which has grown 61% in the last decade, is now majority minority with census data showing the population as 46% white, 34% Asian, 10% Latino and 10% Black. A candidate for Frisco mayor has called immigrants “rats” and Islam a “terrorist group,” the Washington Post reported, and locals have complained of an “Indian takeover” in the area. At one city council meeting, a man waved an Indian flag, spoke with a fake accent and said “I’ve started throwing my trash outside and pooping everywhere” to make Frisco feel more like home. Video of the meeting went viral. Anti-immigrant rhetoric has pushed several far-right politicians into seats of power: “Now that MAGA extremism is becoming the norm, people are more comfortable being racist in person and online,” Neha Suratran,a 22-year-old Hindu tech worker who was raised in Frisco, told the Post.